Snubbed railway bogies

ABSTRACT

In a suspension for a railway bogie or fourwheeled wagon an axlebox assembly has a face riding against a pedestal guide and supports the frame assembly through a suspension spring. A friction damper in the pedestal guide engages the face in line horizontally with the axle bearing. An upper spring abutment is supported by the frame assembly through to the pedestal by an inclined downwardly facing wedge surface so that the spring force loading the abutment results in a lateral force applied to the damper and rising in the axlebox assembly may comprise an axlebox in an inverted saddle suspended from a beam on or above the axlebox and frictionally engaged by the damper. The saddle provides for relative lateral movement of the axlebox. The spring abutment is provided by a pot-like spring housing with an integral surrounding collar with an upwardly facing wedge surface. The wedge surfaces engage frictionally or are separated by bonded rubber pads in combine shear and compression.

United States Patent 91 Sinclair SNUBBED RAILWAY BOGIES [75] Inventor:Frederick William Sinclair,

Gloucester, England [73] Assignee: Gloucester Railway Carriage WagonCompany Limited, Gloucester, England [22] Filed: July 28, 1971 [211App]. N0.: 166,808

[52] U.S. Cl 105/224 R, 105/218 A, 105/222, 105/223, 267/9 A [51] Int.Cl. 1361f 5/30, B61f 5/46, B61f 5/50 [58] Field of Search 105/197 D,207, 218, 218 A, 105/222, 223, 224 R, 224 A, 224.1, 218 R, 218 A, 224 R,224 A, 224.1, 222; 267/3, 4, 9 A

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,403,52 7/1946 Edstrom105/197 D 1,414,960 5/1922 Kadel 105/223 X 2,059,963 11/1936 Barrows i105/224 R 2,327,151 8/1943 Cottrell 105/224 R 2,378,414 6/1945 Light267/9 A 2,479,054 8/1949 Barrows 105/224 R 3,245,357 4/1966 Sinclair105/207 X 3,338,183 8/1967 Boissier 105/224 R X 3,394,662 7/1968 105/224R X 3,517,620 6/1970 Weber 105/224 R X FOREIGN PATENTS OR APPLICATlONS887,865 1/1962 Great Britain 105/224 R Primary ExaminerM. Henson Wood,Jr. Assistant Examiner-Howard Beltran Attorney, Agent, or FirmYoung &Thompson 5 7 ABSTRACT In a suspension for a railway bogie or fourwheeledwagon an axlebox assembly has a face riding against a pedestal guide andsupports the frame assembly through a suspension spring. A frictiondamper in the pedestal guide engages the face in line horizontally withthe axle bearing. An upper spring abutment is supported by the frameassembly through to the pedestal by an inclined downwardly facing wedgesurface so that the spring force loading the abutment results in alateral force applied to the damper and rising in the axlebox assemblymay comprise an axlebox in an inverted saddle suspended from a beam onor above the axlebox and frictionally engaged by the damper. The saddleprovides for relative lateral rnovement of the agglebox. The springabutment is provided by a pot-like spring housing with an integralsurrounding collar with an upwardly facing wedge surface. The wedgesurfaces engage frictionally or are separated by bonded rubber pads incombine shear and compression.

9 Claims, 14 Drawing Figures PAIENIE sEH 71914 SHEET 1 0r 5 SNUBBEDRAILWAY BOGIES This invention relates to suspension systems for railwayvehicles and is applicable to wagons of four wheeled type and to bogievehicles. The invention relates particularly to spring mountings foraxleboxes movable in or against pedestal guides and in which suspensionsprings are arranged alongside the pedestal guides to support a framemember of the vehicle on the axlebox.

Objects of the invention are to provide improved riding characteristicsand to provide a suspension which is damped with a rising loadcharacteristic, i.e., so that the damping force increases with thevehicle loading.

In one aspect of the invention, a suspension arrangement comprises asprung frame assembly including a pedestal guide, an axlebox assemblyhaving a face riding against the pedestal guide and a suspension springdisposed alongside the pedestal guide and between the frame assembly andthe axlebox assembly, wherein a friction damper is arranged in thepedestal guide for frictional engagement with said face at a regionapproximately in line horizontally with the rotational axis of the axlebearing and wherein an upper spring abutment is supported by the frameassembly through an inclined surface in such manner that the springforce loading the abutment results in a lateral force urging the lattertowards said face, which lateral force is applied to the damper so thatthe frictional damping force rises in proportion to the load on theframe assembly.

The axlebox assembly may comprise an axlebox in a saddle suspended froma beam on and above the axlebox, the saddle providing the face ridingagainst the pedestal guide and frictionally engaged by the damper, thesaddle also providing for limited lateral movement between the axleboxand the saddle, i.e., movements axially of the axle bearing.

In another aspect, a suspension arrangement comprises a sprung frameassembly including a pedestal guide, an axlebox assembly having a faceriding against the pedestal guide and a suspension spring disposedalongside the pedestal guide and between the frameassembly and theaxlebox assembly, a friction damper being arranged in the pedestal guidefor frictional engagement with said face at a region approximately inline horizontally with the rotational axis of the axle bearing, theaxlebox assembly comprising an axlebox in a saddle suspended from a beamon and above the axlebox, the saddle providing said face riding againstsaid pedestal guide and frictionally engaged by the damper, the saddlealso providing for limited lateral movement between the axlebox and thesaddle, i.e., movement axially of the axle bearingf According to theinvention in a further aspect a railway bogie or four-wheeled wagon hascombined suspension and damping means which comprise, for each axleboxassembly of the bogie or wagon, a suspension spring arranged at one sideof the axlebox assembly, a friction damper arranged in a pedestal guideof the corresponding side frame of the bogie or wagon for frictionalengagement with said one side of the axlebox assembly at a regionapproximately in line horizontally with the rotational axis of the axlebearing, and upper spring abutment means supported by the side framethrough an inclined surface in such manner that the spring force loadingthe abutment means results in a lateral force urging the latter towardsthe axlebox assembly, which lateral force is applied to the damper sothat the frictional damping force rises in proportion to the load on thebogie or wagon.

In the case of a bogie having a conventional axlebox arrangement, witheach of the four axleboxes sliding between spaced pedestal guides in thecorresponding side frame, said suspension spring will normally be one oftwo similar springs disposed symmetrically on opposite sides of theaxlebox concerned. However, only one set of spring abutment means anddamper is required for each axlebox, these being arranged either on theinner side of or the outer sides of, the axleboxes to provide a balancedarrangement.

The invention is also applicable to radial arm type axleboxes, in whichcase each axlebox is associated with only one pedestal guide housing thecorresponding damper on the side of the axlebox remote from the fixedfulcrum of the radius arm. The use of only a single pedestal guide isdictated by the necessity to provide suitable lateral characteristics,and the arm may be mounted on the fixed fulcrum through a bonded rubberbush permitting limited lateral movement of the wheel and the axle sets.

The abutment means may comprise what is hereinafter termed a floatingwedge pot, having a pot-like structure with a central bore in which theupper end of the spring is received and which acts as a spring guide. Anintegral surrounding collar at the lower open end of the pot has anupwardly facing wedge surface which is inclined upwardly toward theaxlebox, this collar directly engaging the damper and the wedge surfacebeing supported by said inclined surface of the side frame. Thesesurfaces may be in direct frictional engagement, although in analternative arrangement which obviates the effect of friction thesesurfaces are separated by bonded rubber pads which are placed incombined shear and compression to provide the horizontal reaction whichloads the damper.

Said suspension spring engaging the wedge pot may be the only springassociated therewith, although an arrangement of springs may be employedwith two springs separated by an intermediate member and effective inseries under light load conditions and in parallel under full loadconditions. This enables one spring to be used when the bogie istravelling light, i.e., in the tare condition, with both springsoperative in the loaded condition.

The damper preferably comprises a damper friction pad which is mountedbetween portions of a split collet arrangement which grips the pad witha wedging action to urge the latter into frictional engagement with theaxlebox. The collet arrangement is guided for horizontal movement in thepedestal guide-and it may be directly engaged by the abutment means.

Four railway bogies and a wagon suspension representing illustrativeembodiments of the invention will now be described by way of example,and with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG.- 1 is a diagrammatic side view of the side frame of a bogie andaxleboxes therein incorporating combined suspension and damping means,

FIG. 2 shows diagrammatically a sectional view of one axlebox suspensionin the end of a bogie side frame and illustrative of a first embodiment,

FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate details of the suspension of FIG. 2,

FIG. 5 illustrates a second embodiment comprising an alternativesuspension spring,

FIGS. 6 and 7 are diagrammatic perspective and sectional viewsrespectively of another axlebox suspension representing a thirdembodiment,

FIGS. 8 and 9 are diagrammatic views in elevation and plan respectivelyof an axlebox suspension representing a fourth embodiment,

FIGS. 10, 11 and 12 are diagrammatic views in side elevation, endelevation and plan respectively of an axlebox suspension for afour-wheeled wagon, and

FIGS. 13 and 14 illustrate details of the axlebox suspension of FIGS.10, 11 and 12.

As shown diagrammatically in FIG. 1, the first three embodiments haveconventional axlebox arrangements, with each axlebox 10 slidablysupported between spaced pedestal guides 11 in the corresponding sideframe 12 of the bogie. A symmetrical arrangement of suspension springs13 and 14 is employed for each axlebox 10, the springs 13, 14 havingbottom seatings on webs 15 of cradles 16 which are parts of the axleboxassemblies. Combined suspension and damping means apply a frictionaldamping force to the outer side of each axlebox 10, the correspondingdamper 17 being mounted in the pedestal 11 at that side. This provides asymmetrically balanced arrangement with the whole of the suspensionlocated on the centre line of the axlebox journal which is importantwith wheel and axle sets having self-aligning bearings, although theinvention is not confimed to such an arrangement. In each case thecombined suspension and damping means for one axlebox only will now bedescribed.

In the first embodiment shown in FIG. 2, a single suspension spring 13,14 is employed at each side of the axlebox 10, the upper end 18 of thespring 14 at the outer side being received in a floating wedge pot 19,detailed in FIG. 4, which has a collar 20 providing a wedge surface 21and which projects into a housing 22 cast in the corresponding sideframe 12 alongside the adjacent pedestal guide 11. Around the lower endof this housing 22 the side frame 12 has, as shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, asurface 23 which is inclined upwardly towards the axlebox 10 and againstwhich the upper wedge surface 21 of the wedge pot collar 20 is directlysupported. At the inner side this collar 20 has a flat surface 24 whichengages the back face of a circular collet arrangement 25, whereby toapply, to a damper pad 26 engaged by the collet, a damping force whichincreases with suspension load. A rubber ring 27 which surrounds thewedge 19 locates it in a generally central position within the housing22 and prevents wear, while allowing the small floating movement whichis essential to operation and to take up wear of the damper 17comprising the collet and the damper pad 26.

The collet arrangement 25, detailed in FIG. 4 and of hollow sectionshown in FIG. 2, is split radially into three portions a, b, c ofsaddle-like radial cross section and slidable in a horizontal guide bore28 (FIG. 2) in the pedestal guide 11. At the back end the limbs of thecollet portion a, b, c are closely spaced so as to engage to preventundue tilting or twisting of the portions such as would result injamming in the guide bore 28, and the front limbs of the portions a, b,c together present a concave frusto-conical mouth 29 in which acomplementary boss 30 at the back of the damper pad 26 is received. Forgood wedging action, flats or recesses 30a are formed on the boss 30 andmatching flats are formed in the collet portions a, b and c. This pad 26is of rectangular shape with a frictional surface which engages theadjacent outer side of the axlebox 10.

The second embodiment is similar to the first except that eachsuspension spring 13, 14 is replaced by two springs which operate inseries in the tare condition and in parallel in the loaded condition.The wedge pot 19a for the outer side of the frame 12 is shown in FIG. 5,the two springs replacing spring 14 of FIGS. 1 and 2 being designated 31and 32. The lower end of the upper and weaker spring 31 is received inan intermediate pot member 33 and abuts a plunger 34 in the bottom ofthe pot member 33. The latter has an open top with an external flange35, which flange 35 provides the upper abutment for the lower andstronger spring 32 which fits closely within the wedge pot 19a. As thevehicle is loaded, the intermediate member 33 engages the closed end ofthe wedge pot 19a or, on the inner side of the axlebox not provided witha damper, engages a suitable abutment of the side frame 12. Also theplunger 34 engages the web 15 so that the spring 31 is operative inparallel to the spring 32.

The third embodiment, illustrated in FIGS. 6 and 7, is generally similarto the first except that the wedge surface 21a on the pot collar 20 doesnot directly engage the inclined supporting surface 23a on the sideframe 12. Instead these surfaces 21a and 23a are separated by bondedrubber pads 36, disposed on opposite sides of the spring 14 and lyingforce-and-aft of the bogie, these pads 36 operating in combined shearand compression to provide the horizontal reaction which loads thedamper pad 26 of the damper 17.

The fourth embodiment, illustrated in FIGS. 8 and 9, includes radial armtype axleboxes. Each axlebox 40 is disposed at one end of acorresponding radius arm 41 which is supported about a fixed fulcrum bya bonded rubber bush 42. Adjacent the free end of the arm 41 the axlebox40. is engaged by a friction damper 17 comprising a damper pad 26mounted in an adjacent pedestal guide lla with the combined suspensionand damping means generally as described in connection with the firstembodiment. The radius arm 41 is continued below the axlebox 40 toprovide a lower spring abutment 43, and side webs 44 which connect thisabutment 43 to the axlebox 40 are respectively disposed at oppositesides of the pedestal guide 11a which is relatively narrow laterally ofthe vehicle. Sufficient clear ance is provided to allow adequatecontrolled lateral movement of the wheel and axle sets, which movementis accommodated by the fulcrum bushes 42.

It will be appreciated that the upper spring abutment means 19 of theinvention, which operate by virtue of the inclined wedge surface 23 toload the associated friction damper 17, do not normally move verticallywith respect to the side frame. Such slight vertical movement as occurscorresponds to small lateral float which may occur, for example to takeup wear of the friction surfaces, and is very small. There is nomaterial or continuous vertical movement associated with suspensionmovement.

FIGS. 10 to 13 illustrate one of four similar axlebox mountings for afour-wheeled wagon. Referring to these figures, a main side frame memberor sole-bar 50 carries a sub-frame 51 including a pair of pedestalguides 52, 53 between suspension spring housings 54, 55. The axlebox 56is located between the pedestal guides 52, 53 but is part of an assemblycomprising an upper beam 57, fixed to the top of the axlebox 56, and aninverted saddle 58, suspended from the beam 57 by tie-rods 59 which havehorizontal pivotal axes in the beam 57, and fulcrum pads 60 and nuts 61beneath the saddle. The tie-rods pass freely through the suspensionspring housings 54, 55 and suspension springs 62 and 63, and thesuspended saddle 58 provides lower abutments 64, 65 for the suspensionsprings. The arms of the saddle 58 provide pedestal bearing surfaces forthe axlebox 56 and have flanges 66 each with a clearance of about inchwith respect to the axlebox so that the axles have limited axle freedomof movement in relation to the frame 50 and sub-frames such as 51, thisrelative movement being permitted by swinging movement of the saddle 58and tie-rods 59 relative to the beam 57. The flanges 66 of the saddle 58also embrace the pedestal guides 52, 53 and are a sliding fit thereon.Hence the axlebox assembly provides for vertical suspension movement ofthe sub-frame by sliding of the pedestal guides 52, 53 in the saddle,while the axlebox has relative horizontal movement with respect to thesaddle. The suspension springs 62 and 63 are mounted in a manner similarto that in the bogie described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4, thesaddle 58 providing the lower abutments. One spring 63 provides dampingdependent on wagon loading in a manner similar to that in said bogie,but the damping pressure is applied not directly to the axlebox but tothe saddle 58. To this end, a wedge-pot 67 providing the upper abutmentfor the suspension spring 63 applies lateral pressure through a colletassembly 68 to a friction pad 69 engaging the web 70 of the adjacent armof the saddle 58.

A spring-loaded friction damper may be provided between the top of theaxlebox and the under surface of the sub-frame immediately above theaxlebox, or between the under side of the axlebox and the saddle 58, fordamping the relative motion of the axlebox axially of the axle bearings.The described axlebox assembly provides load-dependent damping of abalanced twospring suspension, and an axlebox of existing pattern havingrelative lateral motion independent of the vertical suspension. Suchassemblies embodied in fourwheeled wagons make for high-speed running ofsuch wagons.

I claim:

1. A railway vehicle having a suspension arrangement comprising a sprungframe assembly which includes a pedestal guide, an axlebox assemblyhaving a face which engages the pedestal guide, a friction damper and asuspension spring the upper end of which engages a spring abutmentsupported by the frame assembly and the lower end of which engages theaxlebox assembly, said spring abutment having a first surface that actsagainst a surface of the frame assembly which is inclined to thevertical and which surrounds the suspension spring and a second surfacewhich is directed towards said face of the axlebox assembly and engagesthe friction damper, the friction damper being arranged in the pedestalguide and positioned between the second surface of the spring abutmentand said face of the axlebox assembly so that the spring force loadingthe abutment results, through interaction of said first surface thereofwith said inclined surface of the frame assembly, in a lateral forceurging the spring abutment towards the damper to bias the latter againstsaid face of the axlebox assembly, the damper including a part havingsurface means engaged by complementary surface means of the pedestalguide in such manner that the damper is prevented from movement in thevertical direction and the force transmitted to the face of the axleboxassembly is a purely lateral force.

2. A railway vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the axlebox assemblycomprises an axlebox in an inverted saddle suspended from a beam on andabove the axelbox, the saddle providing the face which engages thepedestal guide and permitting limited relative movement between theaxlebox and the saddle in a direction axially of the axlebox bearing.

3. A railway vehicle according to claim 1, wherein there are two axleboxassemblies each carried on a radius arm and each associated with apedestal guide which houses a corresponding friction damper positionedon that side of the axlebox assembly remote from the fulcrum of thecorresponding radius arm.

4. A railway vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the means formounting each radius arm on its fulcrum includes a bonded rubber bushwhich acts to control movement of the wheel and axlebox sets.

5. A railway vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the part of thedamper having the surface means engaged by complementary surface meansof the pedestal guide is of generally cylindrical form and saidcomplementary surface means comprises the surface of a cylindrical bore.

6. A railway vehicle according to claim 5, wherein said part is a splitcollet which, together with a friction pad constitutes the frictiondamper, the collet having portions which grip a boss on the pad with awedging action to urge the pad into frictional engagement with theaxlebox assembly.

7. A railway vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the spring abutmentcomprises a pot-like structure on which said surface is disposed andwhich has a central bore in which the upper end of the spring isreceived.

8. A railway vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the lower end of thepot-like structure has an integral surrounding collar having an upwardlyfacing wedge surface inclined upwardly towards the axle box assembly,said collar acting against the damper and the wedge surface constitutingsaid first surface of the spring abutment.

9. A railway vehicle having a suspension arrangement comprising a sprungframe assembly which includes a pedestal guide, an axlebox assemblyhaving a face which engages the pedestal guide, a friction damper and asuspension spring the upper end of which engages a spring abutmentsupported by the frame assembly and the lower end of which engages theaxlebox assembly, said spring abutment comprising a pot-like structurewith a central bore in which the upper end of the spring is received,said pot-like structure having an external collar which provides a wedgesurface which surrounds the spring and is inclined to the vertical andacts against a cooperating surface of the frame assembly and an abutmentsurface which is directed towards said face of the axlebox assembly andengages the friction damper, the friction damper being positionedbetween said abutment surface of the collar and said face of the axleboxassembly with the arrangement such that the spring force loading theabutment results, through interaction of the wedge surface and thecooperating surface of the frame assembly, in a lateral force beingtransmitted to the damper to bias the latter against said face of theaxlebox assembly.

1. A railway vehicle having a suspension arrangement comprising a sprungframe assembly which includes a pedestal guide, an axlebox assemblyhaving a face which engages the pedestal guide, a friction damper and asuspension spring the upper end of which engages a spring abutmentsupported by the frame assembly and the lower end of which engages theaxlebox assembly, said spring abutment having a first surface that actsagainst a surface of the frame assembly which is inclined to thevertical and which surrounds the suspension spring and a second surfacewhich is directed towards said face of the axlebox assembly and engagesthe friction damper, the friction damper being arranged in the pedestalguide and positioned between the second surface of the spring abutmentand said face of the axlebox assembly so that the spring force loadingthe abutment results, through interaction of said first surface thereofwith said inclined surface of the frame assembly, in a lateral forceurging the spring abutment towards the damper to bias the latter againstsaid face of the axlebox assembly, the damper including a part havingsurface means engaged by complementary surface means of the pedestalguide in such manner that the damper is prevented from movement in thevertical direction and the force transmitted to the face of the axleboxassembly is a purely lateral force.
 2. A railway vehicle according toclaim 1, wherein the axlebox assembly comprises an axlebox in aninverted saddle suspended from a beam on and above the axelbox, thesaddle providing the face which engages the pedestal guide andpermitting limited relative movement between the axlebox and the saddlein a direction axially of the axlebox bearing.
 3. A railway vehicleaccording to claim 1, wherein there are two axlebox assemblies eachcarried on a radius arm and each associated with a pedestal guide whichhouses a corresponding friction damper positioned on that side of theaxlebox assembly remote from the fulcrum of the corresponding radiusarm.
 4. A railway vehicle according to claim 3, wherein the means formounting each radius arm on its fulcrum includes a bonded rubber bushwhich acts to control movement of the wheel and axlebox sets.
 5. Arailway vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the part of the damperhaving the surface means engaged by complementary surface means of thepedestal guide is of generally cylindrical form and said complementarysurface means comprises the surface of a cylindrical bore.
 6. A railwayvehicle according to claim 5, wherein said part is a split collet which,together with a friction pad constitutes the friction damper, the collethaving portions which grip a boss on the pad with a wedging action tourge the pad into frictional engagement with the axlebox assembly.
 7. Arailway vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the spring abutmentcomprises a pot-like structure on which said surface is disposed andwhich has a central bore in which the upper end of the spring isreceived.
 8. A railway vehicle according to claim 7, wherein the lowerend of the pot-like structure has an integral surrounding collar havingan upwardly facing wedge surface inclined upwardly towards the axle boxassembly, said collar acting against the damper and the wedge surfaceconstituting said first surface of the spring abutment.
 9. A railwayvehicle having a suspension arrangement comprising a sprung frameassembly which includes a pedestal guide, an axlebox assembly having aface which engages the pedestal guide, a friction damper and asuspension spring the upper end of which engages a spring abutmentsupported by the frame assembly and the lower end of which engages theaxlebox assembly, said spring abutment comprising a pot-like structurewith a central bore in which the upper end of the spring is received,said pot-like structure having an external collar which provides a wedgesurface which surrounds the spring and is inclined to the vertical andacts against a cooperating surface of the frame assembly and an abutmentsurface which is directed towards said face of the axlebox assembly andengages the friction damper, the friction damper being positionedbetween said abutment surface of the collar and said face of the axleboxassembly with the arrangement such that the spring force loading theabutment results, through interaction of the wedge surface and thecooperating surface of the frame assembly, in a lateral force beingtransmitted to the damper to bias the latter against said face of theaxlebox assembly.